CurrencyFair has today announced it has raised a €10 million funding round, led by Octopus Investments.
CurrencyFair was the first platform in the world to break the $1 billion barrier in money-matching transfers early last year. Since then, their growth has accelerated month-on-month across their main currency corridors between the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
This latest funding round will help capitalise on the expanding new sector of peer-to-peer currency transfer, and enhance and expand CurrencyFair’s existing currency corridors. Participants in the round include venture capital investors Octopus Investments (‘Octopus’), with follow on from existing investors Frontline Ventures.
Customers worldwide are increasingly migrating away from using traditional banks – where they pay non-transparent and expensive currency exchange charges – towards the wave of new fintech platforms. CurrencyFair remains the only true person-to-person currency exchange marketplace. This unique model ensures that it is the cheapest way to transfer amounts of £2,000 and over, and that it is the only way customers can beat the interbank rate in money transfers on any platform.
Speaking on the announcement CurrencyFair CEO Brett Meyers said: “The money transfer sector has seen a lot of attention recently, with customers beginning to realise the high fees charged by banks when sending money internationally. These customers, made up of an internationally mobile workforce, retirees and foreign property owners, are regularly sending £2,000 or more in the form of pay, pensions, mortgages and rents. For these people we are a great match as we are virtually unbeatable over £2,000, sometimes even beating the interbank rate, which banks, brokers and other transfer services can't do.”
Rebecca Hunt, a member of the Ventures team at Octopus, said: “The fintech scene is incredibly exciting at the moment, and nowhere more so than in international transfers. It’s certainly a competitive market, but we are pleased to be backing CurrencyFair and look forward to working closely with them in this next step in the business’ growth.”